Iowa Amish

Amish have lived in Iowa for over 160 years.  The oldest and largest community in Iowa is found in Johnson and Washington Counties, around the town of Kalona. Iowa has a significant but relatively modest Amish population given its long history.  Amish in Iowa number around 7,000 today (see Young Center Amish Studies website). Facts [...]

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Migration to previously-unsettled areas has been a story of significance for Amish in recent years.   Migration is not a new phenomenon, as Amish have long moved to new areas for reasons of economics, due to church issues, or for other causes.  Places that have seen a recent influx of Amish include Missouri, Wisconsin, and New [...]

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The Bloomfield Amish community is one of the largest in Iowa The Amish community lying north and west of Bloomfield, Iowa is one of the three largest in the state.  Like the nearby settlement at Kalona, and the more conservative group found in Buchanan County in the northeast part of the state, Bloomfield is home [...]

Continue reading The Bloomfield, Iowa Amish settlement

I like to check in at Ira Wagler’s blog from time to time.  Always nice writing.  Ira grew up Amish in Canada and Iowa, and thus can offer a viewpoint that non-Amish people, like yours truly, cannot. In a recent post, Ira shares his personal take on Rumspringa.  He comes out against some popular perceptions [...]

Continue reading Ira Wagler, running around

Millers, Yoders, Schrocks, Stoltzfuses.  These names are a dime a dozen in Amish America. Meet enough Amish people, and once in a while you’ll come across an unusual name, one that may sound non-Germanic or even a Germanic-sounding name that is simply uncommon. The Amish have welcomed a fair share of converts to the faith [...]

Continue reading Unusual Amish names

Who loves rankings? (everyone loves rankings)–today I offer my personal top-five favorite Amish settlements.  I hope you’ll indulge my self-indulgence for this one day (I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time!).  I haven’t been everywhere, but of the 17-or-so communities I’ve visited, these are the ones I would most readily revisit [...]

Continue reading My top five Amish settlements

Many Amish like to keep goats. Goats make nice pets.  Some Amish raise goats to sell the meat.  A few I met in northern Indiana sell them to Mexican and Arabic clientele, for example.  Apparently goat’s meat is big in traditional Mexican and Arabic cooking. The Amish around Kalona, Iowa, like to milk them. A [...]

Continue reading Random Goat Post

I’ll be away from the blog for a day or two, so if anyone reads this regularly (listen up, you three), I’ve put up a few links to some of my favorite posts.  So if you like, you can: read how Amish forefathers chose to die, or about the controversy among the Amish surrounding assurance [...]

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The Amish arrange themselves into compact groupings known as church districts. Each district has its own name, usually a geographically-based one–Lamoni South, Randolph, and Crab Orchard are examples of places providing names for districts, these being found in Iowa, Mississippi, and Kentucky Amish communities. Since the Amish travel by horse-and-buggy to one another’s homes for [...]

Continue reading The Amish Church District

Diversity in the Amish world is a common theme in this blog.  Ever wonder how different Amish groups use technology? Judging by the chart, it can be seen that the most conservative groups include the Swartzentruber Amish, Nebraska Amish, and the Buchanan County, Iowa Amish (the three of which Amish historian Steven Nolt groups together [...]

Continue reading Amish technology and ‘friendliness’